Swivel arrangement



Jan. 27, 1970 G. BATTOCCHIO 3,491,978

SWIVEL ARRANGEMENT Filed April 30, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet l I N VEN TOR. 6''0/?6 554770661470 AfTOR/WF) Jan. 27, 1970 cs. BATTOCCHIO SWIVEL ARRANGEMENT 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 30, 1968 glow @N RN nw kw United States Patent 3,491,978 SWIVEL ARRANGEMENT George Battocchio, Mount Vernon, N.Y. (16 Pelham Bay Park W., Pelham Manor, N.Y. 10803) Filed Apr. 30, 1968, Ser. No. 725,277 Int. Cl. A47c 3/18 US. Cl. 248-417 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The present disclosure relates to a centerless swivel arrangement in which a chair or other support may be carried upon a base by means of ball or other suitable arrangements without the necessity of having a central shaft.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a swivel arrangement and it particularly relates to a swivel arrangement for chairs and furniture particularly designed for office use, although it may be readily adapted for other purposes.

It is among the objects of the present invention to provide a normal swivel arrangements for chairs and the like which may be freely rotatable and which at the same time may be readily returned to its predetermined position without a vertical shaft and by means of a simplified durable construction.

Another object is to provide a swivel arrangement particularly designed for office chairs in which the chair may be readily rotated to different positions without undue exertion on the part of the user and without locking in any undesired position.

Still further objects and advantages will appear in the more detailed description set forth below, it being understood, however, that this more detailed description is given by way of illustration and explanation only and not by way of limitation, since various changes therein may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention.

In accomplishing the above objects it has been found most satisfactory to design a swivel arrangement having upper and lower plates carrying ball members positioned outside of the central vertical axis of the device with the lower ball arrangement being positioned outside of an upper ball arrangement and with a camming device positioned above both other arrangements.

Said camming arrangement reacts with a telescoping sleeve arrangement which receives an expansion coil spring enclosed therein and two rotatable contact sleeve members at the end thereof. These sleeve members ride against the interior cam and serve correctly to position the chair or other member upon the base after it has been actuated by means of the user thereof.

This camming arrangement may have interior recesses to permit expansion of the telescoping arrangements at one position and contraction of the member at a position 90 therefrom. The cam and telescoping arrangement provides a highly compact arrangement in which the elements will be normally resiliently biased to predetermined positions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS With the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention consists of the novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts as hereinafter more specifically described, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein is shown an embodiment of the invention, but it is to be understood that changes, variations and modifications can be resorted to which fall within the scope of the claims hereunto appended.

3,491,978 Patented Jan. 27, 1970 upon the line 22, upon an enlarged scale as compared to FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a transverse vertical sectional view taken I upon the line 33 of FIG. 2, upon the same scale as FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a transverse vertical sectional view taken upon the line 4-4 of FIG. 3, upon the same scale as FIG. 3.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIGS. 1 to 4, there is shown a seat A and a base B. Between the seat A and the base B is a swivel arrangement indicated at C in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4. Referring particularly to FIGS. 1, 3 and 4, the base B may have a floor contact element 20 with an upwardly extending column 21.

The column 21 is mounted at 22 by soldering, or if desired by other proper fastening means, to the circular plate 23, the outer edges 24 of which are connected to a downwardly dished portion 25, the lower periphery of which 26 is upturned, as indicated at 27 to form a circular race for ball bearings 28. These ball bearings 28, which may be of stainless steel or other materials, roll in the raceway 26 and contact at their top portions the flat portions 29 of the main circular plate 30.

The main circular plate 30 has the outwardly and upwardly extending flared portion 31. These flared portions 31 are in line with a form of extension of the portions 27 of the lower plate member 23 and they have flat portions at 32 which are riveted or bolted at 33 to the cam plate 34. The outer portion of the plate 30 beyond the cam plate 34 has extension portions 35 which terminate in the flat flange 36, which are screwed, bolted or riveted at 37 to the body portion 38, which may constitute the seat 39 of a chair having the back 40.

The circular plate 30 inside of the flat portion 29 is upturned at 41 to form the inside of a raceway. This raceway will receive the ball bearings 43. The outside downturned portion 42 of the raceway is positioned at the outer end of the upwardly dished portion 44 of the plate 45. The plate 45 is connected with the plate 23 through an intermediate plate 46 and a top plate 47 by Welding or screws 49.

On top of the plate 47 is positioned the sleeve 50, which, as shown in FIG. 4, is of square cross-section and has two telescoping sleeves 51 which are positioned inside of the sleeve 50. These telescoping end sleeves 51 receive the ends 52 of the main coil spring 53, and the end coils 54 react against the inwardly projecting ridges 55, which hold them in position. In the outer ends 56 of the telescoping sleeves 51 are positioned the cylindrical rollers 57 which have the vertical pivot pins 58.

These rollers 57 ride on the inside camming recesses 59, which have their closest approach at 60 and their greatest distance at 61. Normally these rollers, when forced to the position at 60, will cause compression of the spring 53, with insertion of the sleeves 51 carrying the rollers toward the center of the device.

The stress of the spring will then act to return the iollers 57 to position 61 along the edge of the camming opening 59 in said plate. By being positioned diametrically opposite one another, the nearest and farthest camming edges 60 and 61 will assure that the seat or other member supported thereby will be biased by the compressed spring I a to a position as shown in FIG. 2 or to a position 180 from the position in which the rollers 57 contact the closest portions of the cam edge 59 at 60.

Normally the plates 23 and 47 will be relatively fixed, whereas the plate will rotate, carrying the tube 50 and the end members with it, with the spring compressing as the rollers 57 move from position 61 to and expanding as the rollers move from 60 to 61. The race formed by the balls .28 will be positioned outside of the race formed by the balls 43. These balls may be made of metal, plastic or other materials, and they are held firmly between the outer portions of the plates 45 and 23, with the balls rolling upon the flattened peripheral portion 29 of the intermediate plate 30 as it turns.

Although the invention is preferably applicable to a chair, it may also less preferably be applied to a .table, desk or cabinet.

By positioning the coil spring extending across the center of the device and across the central axis, as best shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, a better balance is achieved and a more direct application of the spring force is achieved and only one spring is necessary. The elimination of the I central axis and the use of a centerless construction achieves a more compact arrangement which is not subject to inadvertent derangement and does not require undue stress in turning the chair upon its vertical axis.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, what is claimed is:

1. A centerless swivel arrangement for a chair or similar device having a base and an upper member pivotally rotatable in respect to said base, said arrangementincluding a lower circular plate fixed on the base having an upwardly facing lower concave outer circular channel, a plurality of outer lower anti-friction ball bearings in said lower channel and an upper circular plate also fixed on said base having a downturned outer peripheral portion forming the upper outer side of an upper circular channel, an intermediate rotatable circular plate having a peripheral flat portion riding upon said outer lower ball bearings and saving an inwardly upwardly turned portion forming the inner lower side of an upper circular channel inside of said lower circular channel, said downturned outer portion of the upper plate together with the inwardly and upwardly extending portion of the intermediate plate forming a raceway carrying ball bearing 'means, an outer flange portion carrying the upper member and a circular cam plate carried in the intermediate plate positioned above the upper plate having a central camming opening of maximum width in one direction and minimum width in a direction away from the direction of maximum width, a telescoping tubular carrier member mounted on the upper plate, contact rollers on the ends of said tabular carrier riding on the interior of the opening of said cam plate and resulting in said chair taking one of two positions apart and an interior coil spring to bias said rollers apart.

2. The arrangement of claim 1, said tubular carrier having two telescoping end portions, each of which carry one of said contact rollers at its outer end, and an interior coil spring acting on said end portions to bias them apart and to press the roller against the camming opening.

3. The arrangement of claim 1, the outermost portions of said lower intermediate and upper plates forming a conical structure diverging upwardly.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,199,826 8/1965 Miller et al 248-417 3,204,915 9/1965 Silver 248-417 3,438,606 4/1969 Rubin 2484l5 MARION PARSONS, JR., Primary Examiner 

